SALT LAKE CITY - When James Christopher Potter sat down to write about what life was like back in the 1960s along the East Bench of the Wasatch Front, I believe he had a difficult time writing a novel and an even harder time not turning it into an autobiographical piece
"East Bench," by Potter with Theresa L. Vivanco, tells the story of Catholic Salt Lake City teens trying to start their own band, first by emulating the Beatles, then by creating some of their own music. Potter is working with a handicap, though. While others in the band make use of second-hand guitars, Potter never seems to be able to acquire the drum set he needs. Of course, he dreams of pounding away on a black pearl drum set like the Beatles' Ringo Starr, instead he is relegated to a home-made set consisting of old, empty coffee cans, dinner plates and pots and pans borrowed from the kitchen. Eventually he finds himself praying to Saint Jude, the patron saint of hopeless cases, for a good drum set.
While Potter re-creates a Salt Lake City when gas was 32 cents a gallon and ice cream could be had for a nickel, he also creates characters and friends who are rich in personality, humorous, and growing and maturing like the teens we've known. Although Potter claims the names of the characters have been changed to protect their innocent, some familiar names creep into the story - names like Father Servatius. Other characters include Codge, the narrator's real brother, Don; Renny, Karen, and Stump (Stump is also a real person whose name is Nic.) This is where the novel and the autobiography parts get a little confusing.
The book takes place before Vatican II, so some of the church scenes remind the reader of times past. The narrator and many of his friends are students at Our Lady of Lourdes School. As Catholic kids in Salt Lake City, they get into plenty of trouble, and have their moments of sheer hilarity, like the time they found themselves catching fish as a Wasatch Valley cloudburst creates floods in the streets.
The book has some puzzling repeats of scenes and dialogue, which add a touch of confusion to the text.
These are the days when drive-in movies charge by the carloads, the Mass is celebrated in Latin, and the music being created by the kids in the upstairs bedroom cause the parents concern.
"East Bench" is filled with nostalgia. The book is simple, easy to read, and will make readers who grew up in the area perhaps find some ghost of themselves, even though the writer has the traditional disclaimer: "Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental."
"East Bench," by James Christopher Potter with Theresa L. Vivanco, East Bench Press, 2009, 290 pages, $19.95.
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